The present invention pertains to an assembly of modular containers for the handling, transporting and storing of microscope specimen glass slides.
In order to obtain an analysis of biological samples in medical fields such as microbiology, cytology, hematology, etc., various kits and containers have been devised for transporting specimen slides to laboratories.
Such containers may be found described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No.4,044,500 issued on Sep. 3, 1991 to Webber et al. which illustrates a package for handling and transporting glass slides. U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,568 issued on Feb. 25, 1992 to Tse, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,804 issued on Apr. 11, 1989 to Levy describe individual slide holders.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved assembly of specimen slide containers which preserve the slides in a secure manner during handling, storage and transportation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved specimen slide container which is capable of being assembled with similarly constructed containers in a stacked arrangement.
Still, another object of the present invention is to provide such an assembly of specimen containers wherein the access to any one container of the stacked arrangement may be easily done selectively.
Further, an object of the invention is to facilitate manual retrieval of a glass slide from any one container.
The present invention therefore relates to an assembly of modular containers for handling, transporting and storing microscope specimen slides wherein the containers are stacked when assembled and wherein each container comprises:
a rectangular shaped body having opposite front and rear end walls, opposite side walls and a bottom wall defining a receptacle area to receive a specimen slide therein;
engaging means on the opposite side walls enabling inter-engagement of the body with superposed and underposed similarly constructed bodies; the engaging means allowing the bodies to be longitudinally slid relative to one another;
locking means integral with one of the end walls of the body adapted to contact corresponding locking means on the upperposed and underposed bodies to prevent the bodies from unwarranted longitudinal sliding movement relative to one another; and
means allowing release of the locking means to thereby allow the bodies to be manually slid relative to one another for insertion or removal of slides into and from the bodies.
In one form of the invention, the container body displays an integral extension on one of its end walls on which the locking means are provided in the form of a finger gripping means.
In a further form of the invention, this extension is made flexible whereby manual pressure thereon enables the release of the locking means.
Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. It should be understood, however, that this detailed description, while indicating preferred embodiments of this invention, is given by way of illustration only since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art.